The Greatest Books of All Time on Ethics

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This list represents a comprehensive and trusted collection of the greatest books. Developed through a specialized algorithm, it brings together 759 'best of' book lists to form a definitive guide to the world's most acclaimed books. For those interested in how these books are chosen, additional details can be found on the rankings page.

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Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
6432 On Immunity Eula Biss 2014 American English
6434 Blood Music Greg Bear 1985 American English
6506 The Triple Mirror of the Self Zulfikar Ghose 1992 Pakistani English
6514 Language, Truth, And Logic A. J. Ayer 1936 British English
6650 Fail Safe Eugene Burdick, Harvey Wheeler 1962 American English
6803 On Photography Susan Sontag 1977 American English
6836 We are All Completely Beside Ourselves Karen Joy Fowler 2013 American English
7022 Crito Plato -389 Greek Ancient greek
7025 Precarious Life Judith Butler 2004 American English
7031 Records of the Grand Historian Sima Qian 91 Chinese Classical chinese
7048 The King Of Torts John Grisham 2003 American English
7215 Unto This Last John Ruskin 1860 British English
7215 Corydon André Gide 1924 French French
7215 Back To Methuselah George Bernard Shaw 1921 Irish English
7215 R.U.R. Karel Čapek 1920 Czech Czech
7576 The Racial Contract Charles W. Mills 1997 American English
7579 Speaker for the Dead Orson Scott Card 1986 American English
7581 Feed Seanan McGuire 2010 American English
7582 Animal Liberation Peter Singer 1975 Australian English
7764 In Search of Klingsor Jorge Volpi Escalante 1999 Mexican Spanish
7791 The Gods Themselves Isaac Asimov 1972 American English
7807 Products Of The Perfected Civilization Sébastien-Roch Nicolas de Chamfort 1969 French French
7877 Forever Peace Joe Haldeman 1997 American English
7908 The Lincoln Lawyer Michael Connelly 2005 American English
7960 The Starr Report Kenneth W. Starr 1998 American English
8142 Down Girl Kate Manne 2017 American English
8218 Rumpole Of The Bailey John Mortimer 1978 British English
8294 La Guerra De Galio Héctor Aguilar Camín 1991 Mexican Spanish
8297 Empire Of Pain Patrick Radden Keefe 2021 American English
8320 The Truth Terry Pratchett 2000 British English
8360 Moral Man And Immoral Society Reinhold Niebuhr 1932 American English
8360 Ethics Dietrich Bonhoeffer 1949 German German
8360 Integral Humanism Jacques Maritain 1936 French French
8399 Genie Russ Rymer 1993 American English
8405 On Human Nature E. O. Wilson 1978 American English
8441 The Harvest Of Chronos Mojca Kumerdej 2016 Slovenian Slovenian
8498 Soul of a Citizen Paul Rogat Loeb 1999 American English
8507 Euthyphro Plato -399 Greek Ancient greek
8534 Lady Joker Kaoru Takamura 1997 Japanese Japanese
8763 War Diaries Jean Paul Sartre 1940 French French
8858 The Warrior's Honor Michael Ignatieff 1997 Canadian English
8985 Falling Free Lois McMaster Bujold 1988 American English
9086 Pluto's Republic Peter B. Medawar 1982 British English
9188 Violation Sallie Tisdale 2016 American English
9234 Lightning Rods Helen DeWitt 2011 American English
9256 The Sexual Politics Of Meat Carol J. Adams 1990 American English
9258 The Price of Power Seymour M. Hersh 1983 American English
9719 The Terminal Experiment Robert J. Sawyer 1995 Canadian English
9719 The Moon and the Sun Vonda N. McIntyre 1997 American English
9738 Crime Ferdinand Von Schirach 2009 German German
9753 The Years of Extermination Saul Friedlander 2007 Israeli English
9818 The Precipice Toby Ord 2020 British English
9923 The Problem Of Atheism Augusto Del Noce 1964 Italian Italian
9935 My Sister's Keeper Jodi Picoult 2004 American English
10079 The Girl With All The Gifts M. R. Carey 2014 British English
10076 To Shape A New World Tommie Shelby, Brandon M. Terry 2018 American English
10090 Time Enough For Love Robert A. Heinlein 1973 American English
10095 The People In The Trees Hanya Yanagihara 2013 American English
10239 A History of Philosophy Frederick Charles Copleston 1946 British English
10272 Death's End Cixin Liu 2010 Chinese Chinese
10400 Oh Pure And Radiant Heart Lydia Millet 2005 American English
10418 Internal Ecology Morals For Xxi Century Dario Salas Sommer 2007 Chilean Spanish
10496 The Fragility Of Goodness Martha C. Nussbaum 1986 American English
10733 Truth And Truthfulness Bernard Williams 2002 British English
10811 Life In Code Ellen Ullman 2017 American English
10818 Scythe Neal Shusterman 2016 American English
10893 After Many A Summer Dies The Swan Aldous Huxley 1939 British English
10920 Robert Grosseteste R. W. Southern 1988 British English
10934 The Art Of Cruelty Maggie Nelson 2011 American English
10972 They Know Not What They Do Jussi Valtonen 2014 Finnish Finnish
10981 The Proper Study of Mankind Isaiah Berlin 1997 British English
11046 An Imagined World June Goodfield 1981 British English
11106 Moving Mars Greg Bear 1993 American English
11106 The Speed of Dark Elizabeth Moon 2003 American English
11134 The Problem of Slavery in Western Culture David Brion Davis 1966 American English
11134 A Problem from Hell Samantha Power 2002 American English
11228 The Mote In God's Eye Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle 1974 American English
11302 The Immortals René Barjavel 1960 French French
11322 The Gene Siddhartha Mukherjee 2016 American English
11385 This Common Secret Susan Wicklund 2007 Unknown English
11433 A History Of Bombing Sven Lindqvist 1999 Swedish Swedish
11449 Scarlet Sister Mary Julia Peterkin 1928 American English
11499 State Of Wonder Ann Patchett 2011 American English
11523 Memorabilia Xenophon -371 Greek Ancient greek
11531 Modernity On Endless Trial Leszek Kolakowski 1990 Polish English
11544 Utilitarianism John Stuart Mill 1863 British English
11572 The Citadel A. J. Cronin 1937 British English
11660 The Dark Side Jane Mayer 2008 American English
11660 Christianity, Social Tolerance, And Homosexuality John Boswell 1980 American English
11660 Conrad In The Nineteenth Century Ian Watt 1979 British English
11660 Philosophical Explanations Robert Nozick 1981 American English
11660 The Fate Of The Earth Jonathan Schell 1982 American English
11795 A Case of Conscience James Blish 1958 American English
11796 Cyteen C. J. Cherryh 1988 American English
11811 Ecology, Community And Lifestyle Arne Naess 1989 Norwegian Norwegian
11925 Ancillary Mercy Ann Leckie 2015 American English
11939 The Thought and Character of William James Ralph Barton Perry 1935 American English
11939 Machiavelli in Hell Sebastian de Grazia 1989 American English
12065 Les Thanatonautes Bernard Werber 1994 French French
12122 The Palestine Laboratory Antony Loewenstein 2023 Australian English
12235 Original Sin Jake Tapper 2023 American English
12324 Simone De Beauvoir Deirdre Bair 1990 American English
12324 Judge On Trial Ivan Klima 1991 Czech Czech
12324 Huxley Adrian Desmond 1997 British English
12324 An Affair Of State Richard A. Posner 1999 American English
12410 Populate And Perish George Haddad Unknown English
12641 Officialdom Unmasked Li Baojia 1903 Chinese Chinese
12987 If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies Eliezer Yudkowsky 2025 American English
13359 An Enemy of the People Henrik Ibsen 1882 Norwegian Norwegian
13359 The Amphibian Man Alexander Belyaev 1928 Russian Russian
13359 The Analogy Of Religion Joseph Butler 1736 British English
13359 The Methods Of Ethics Henry Sidgwick 1874 British English
13503 Humanist Manifesto 2000 Paul Kurtz 1999 American English
13527 More Than Human Theodore Sturgeon 1953 American English
13532 Noon, 22nd Century Arkady Strugatsky 1961 Russian Russian
13596 Strangers And Brothers C. P. Snow 1940 British English
13599 Les Bêtes Pierre Gascar 1953 French French
13715 The Just City Jo Walton 2015 Canadian English
13715 The Philosopher Kings Jo Walton 2015 Canadian English
13742 Menschen Wie Götter Sergej Snegow 1966 Russian Russian